Pepperoni Pizza and Chipotle Avocado Cucumber Flatbreads

I’m not the world’s biggest football fan. But I am a big fan of going to the mall during the game.

And I’m nice enough to leave my husband with plenty of food to tide him over in my absence.

I made him a Snackadium and boy, did his eyes light up when he saw it. Nothing says love like a Snackadium. Let’s rephrase that, nothing eases the pain of credit card statements from those mall trips better than some cheesy, carby goodness in the shape of a football field.

I used meatless sausages on the fifty yard line, mini pepperoni on the other yard lines, and flatbread topped with avocado-cucumber are the turf. Or green bleachers depending on how your imagination works.

The whole thing comes together in thirty minutes so in case you have a last minute party or hungry brood to feed, it’s tasty, fast, and easy.

First, I made the flatbread base that’s later topped with avocado and cucumber. I used Pillsbury Big ‘N Flaky Crescent Rolls. I arranged the dough triangles together, end-to-end on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat to form one large continuous rectangle. I had to tear and stretch some of the triangles to get them to fit on the pan, but since it’s later covered with a dense green topping, visual perfection isn’t necessary. I drizzled two tablespoons of olive oil over the dough and baked it for about fifteen minutes until it was slightly puffed and golden.

While it baked, I diced half of a large English cucumber and mashed three avocados. The avocados were extremely ripe and on sale for three-for-a-buck. I suspect my grocery store was trying to get rid of them, which worked out perfectly because like bananas, extra-ripe avocados are so much easier to mash, and are creamier and sweeter.

I used English cucumber because they’re seedless and have far less water compared to regular cucumbers. Because this mixture was going on top the flatbread, I didn’t use anything too watery for fear of making the bread soggy.

I squired a little lemon juice over the mixture, generously seasoned with chipotle seasoning, a pinch of salt and pepper, and stirred. Use any kind of spices you enjoy including cumin, garlic or onion powder, a favorite seasoning blend, or feel free to work in other diced vegetables like bell peppers, red onions, olives, corn, or cilantro. This is really just a variation on chunky guacamole.

After the flatbread emerged from the oven and cooled momentarily, I topped it with the avocado-cucumber mash, and sliced it using a pizza wheel.

Scott commented that he loved the flatbread dough, which was crescent roll dough, and liked it even better than the pizza dough. As I was arranging both types of dough on Silpats prior to baking, they looked very similar. I thought they may even be the same dough, but they’re not.

The crescent roll dough bakes up puffier, thicker, and according to Scott has better flavor. I did drizzle two tablespoons of olive oil on the crescent roll dough, which I’m sure helped the overall flavor, but this again proves that crescent roll dough can do no wrong.

I made the pizza using Pillsbury Classic Pizza Crust. I stretched the dough over a standard-sized cookie sheet lined with a Silpat, covered it with red pasta sauce, and topped it with shredded mozzarella. The fifty yard line is meatless gluten-free sausage and the other yard lines are mini pepperoni. As I was laying out all those mini pepperonis I was thinking about all the body spray I was going to treat myself with at the mall.

I baked the football field for about eighteen minutes until it was just browned. If baking these two recipes on the same day, note that crescent roll dough bakes at 350F and pizza dough bakes at 400F.

My family loved both the pizza and the flatbread. My almost six-year old told me it was the best thing I’ve ever made. She said that two weeks ago with these and these.

Most days my husband is a slightly more credible source than she is, and the whole thing received very high marks from him, too.

The pizza was gooey, cheesy, and the dough was soft and supple. It reminds me of deep-dish pizza dough without actually creating a deep-dish pizza. There’s the option to prebake the crust for about 10 minutes, then top it with sauce, cheese, and toppings, which will yield a crispier crust, but I really didn’t want to bother.

Plus, Scott’s a native Chicago guy and you can take the boy out of the city and move him to California but can’t take the love of deep-dish out of the boy.

Although he eats guacamole and avocado, he’s not generally the fiend that I am. If this was served at a football party, it would be the first thing I’d go for. Both he and Skylar gobbled up the flatbread and I’ve already been asked to remake it. The last time I got asked for a recipe remake before the dishes were even done on the item at-hand were these.

The cooling, creamy avocado with the crunchy cucumbers, balanced with slight kick from the chipotle seasoning, was a nice accompaniment to the pizza. In addition to loving the flatbread dough itself, he remarked that food like this leaves you full and satisfied without being stuffed because green things just don’t do that to you. I agree.

Based on ease and minimal time investment of a half hour, the oohs and ahhs, and brownie points I scored with my family, homemade pizza is going into rotation more frequently around here.

Homemade pepperoni pizza and flatbreads topped with a chipotle avocado-cucumber mash can be made from start-to-finish in 30 minutes. Perfect for times when you need a quick dinner, have a last minute party, especially football or Superbowl parties. The pizza has meatless sausages for the 50-yard line with mini pepperoni on the other yard lines, and the green flatbreads are the turf. They're also creamy, crunchy, with a slight chipotle kick and a perfect accompaniment to the gooey, easy, and cheesy pizza.

1 tablespoon chipotle seasoning, or to taste (or a seasoning blend such as Mrs. Dash or Trader Joe's 21 Salute)

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Pepperoni Pizza - Preheat oven to 400F. Open can of pizza dough and unroll it onto a Silpat- lined or greased baking sheet or pizza stone. Press out dough into approximately a 15-by-10-inch rectangle. Spread red sauce over dough, leaving 1/2-inch margins near the edges bare. Top with cheese. Arrange meatballs in a vertical row going down center of pizza. Create four vertical rows of pepperoni on both sides of the sausage, for a total of 8 vertical and parallel rows. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until bubbly and golden. Serve immediately.

Chipotle Avocado Cucumber Flatbreads - Preheat oven to 350F (note this is cooler than pizza-baking temperature). Open can of crescent rolls and unroll them onto a Silpat- lined or greased baking sheet. Arrange dough end-to-end to form one large rectangle, approximately 15-by-10-inches. It's okay if you have to tear or break a couple triangles in order to achieve one large piece of dough to fill the baking sheet; just pinch the seams together. Drizzle with olive oil and rub it over the entire surface using your fingertips. Bake for about 15 to 18 minutes, or until slightly puffed and golden brown.

While the bread bakes, peel, pit, and mash 3 avocados (I prefer retaining chunkiness and texture and don't over-mash), placing the flesh into a medium bowl. Note that because avocado discolors and oxidizes after exposed to air, don't assemble the flatbread until right before serving it; however, pre-baking the dough a few hours in advance and having it ready to go and waiting to be topped is fine.

Add the cucumber, optional vegetables (I didn't include any of the optional suggestions), lemon juice, chipotle seasoning, salt, pepper, and stir to combine. Allow bread to cool for a few minutes before spreading mixture over the top. Slice into about 10 long strips, about 2-inches wide (or slice into triangles, squares, or other preferred shape) and serve immediately.

Nutella Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Glaze – All the flavor of homemade cinnamon rolls, with none of the work or waiting period. The rolls use a handy shortcut by way of refrigerated crescent rolls, and are ready from start to finish in about 15 minutes. They’re filled with Nutella spread, and are gooey, oozing, moist, succulent, and tender. After their short stint in the oven, the rolls are finished with an easy vanilla glaze. They’re decadent and a ridiculously easy way to enjoy homemade cinnamon rolls in a hurry

Mango Basil Personal-Sized Tortilla Pizzas – Tortilla shells make a great foundation for thin and crispy pizza, my favorite kind. I love mango or pineapple on pizza and the beauty of mini pizzas is that everyone can customize their toppings and flavors for at-home personal pizzas and no one gets stuck picking off a topping she doesn’t like

Cinnamon Bun Pie – An easy shortcut makes these a favorite recipes because of the time savings and because of the sweet cinnamon-sugar streusel topping that adorns these gooey and sweet rolls. Ready in 30 minutes

Strawberry Jelly Rolls – These rolls are ready from start to finish in 15 minutes, including baking time and the dishes, becasue they start out as white dinner rolls and are my favorite way to use up storebought dinner rolls

I partnered with Pillsbury through DailyBuzz to help promote their Crescent Roll and Pizza Crust products. I have been compensated for my time commitment to work with this product. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Thank you Pillsbury for the opportunity to create a Snackadium.

What do you like on your pizza? Any favorite tailgating or game day recipes?

Do you have creative recipes using crescent rolls, premade dough, or a favorite pizza dough recipe?

Feel free to link your favorites because I’ve never met a shortcut that I didn’t like.

I’m drooling. Can I have both of these for breakfast PLEASE??? I honestly do not think I could choose between either – the gorgeous puffy avocado flatbreads ( i LOVE LOVE LOVE the pillsbury big n flaky crescent rolls!) I’ve never had their pizza crust before, but if I do use it – I will most definitely make an adorably gorgeous arranged pepperoni pizza like you did! Kevin loves meatballs so he’d love the 8 little sausage meatballs I throw on there too! And wow, fantastic pictures too Averie – you weren’t kidding when you had something amazing lined up for today. I can tell you got back to it once you got back to CA. Love these shots! And footballs games? No. I missed the footballs DNA in my family. I fall asleep during games.

Can I come over and we can go shopping and drink margaritas and make giant avocado flatbreads??

This one took me awhile :) Not the recipe/food prep – that really did take just 30 mins. But formulating what I was going to make with it all, to come up with something creative but do-able, and that the average person and football fan would like – I put my thinking cap on and yes, I literally hit the ground running with this post. The photo quality – isn’t it just night and day from my Aruba pics?! Same camera & lens, very different conditions. Thanks for the glowing comment! :)

Can I come over and we can go shopping and drink margaritas and make giant avocado flatbreads??

My husband LOVES pizza. I can usually take it or leave it. Depends. Homemade is usually something I’ll try. To me, it’s all about the pizza sauce! That’s my favorite part. With lots of veggies on top, that get perfectly roasted and crispy when you bake it.

The cucumber and avocado flatbread is so unique! What a great idea! I read something about shopping followed by margaritas in the comments . . . can I come, too?!?! :)

To say my husband is obsessed with football is a huge, HUGE understatement. His college is playing in a bowl game on Friday, so now I know what I’ll be making him! :) And I’m with you on escaping during the games… I always plan a girls dinner or mani pedi during the games… ;)

Your girls dinner and mani/pedi session sounds perfect and my husband’s brother is like that with ‘his’ college team playing & I know lots of guys that when their team plays, the world stops and that’s all they can think about! hah!

I’d take the mall or a movie over a football game any time (and a third cousin of mine is a kicker for the San Diego Chargers so I really feel guilty about my lack of interest)! Pillsbury dough in a can is great and I think I’ve tried the whole line over the years. Crescent rolls are my favorite–I think it’s their buttery quality! The Pampered Chef bubble up pizza (using biscuit dough) is an oldie but goodie–kind of like a monkey bread pizza http://www.grouprecipes.com/27058bubble-up-pizza-pampered-chef.html. Both of these recipes look incredible and I’d love to make them. My husband works this weekend, so he’ll be eating it for lunch instead of during a game!

Ive wanted to do monkey bread pizza or something similar for awhile bc I know people would love it and should try something like that. And I can’t believe your cousin plays for the Chargers…small world!!!! :)

I love to make dessert pizza! Nutella, strawberries, and marshmallows, lightly grilled so the marshmallows are brown then grate some more chocolate on top. Serve with ice cream and a smile ^_^. or make dessert candy bar “pizza’pockets” , great game food for the girlies.

1. I really love that you used Pillsbury Classic Pizza Crust for the turf – I’ve been eyeing that in the market, but shied away from because I wasn’t sure how it would turn out (there’s NOTHING worse than a gross pizza crust, don’t you think?). Just looking at it in your photos convinces me that it will be a winner. I’m trying it tonight.

2. I love all the flavors going on here – mini pepperonis, chipotle seasoning (!!!), avocado, cucumber… this is the BEST collection of savory flavors EVER.

3. I love that you introduced me to the concept of a Snackadium. I’ve been letting my husband down, only serving him Snacknasiums and what have you. No wonder he’s been so disappointed in me.

Ok re #1. turf is the crescent roll dough, NOT pizza dough. Pizza is pizza dough but turf is C.R. and yes, I love C.R. dough! It’s soooo versatile. You will love it! The pizza crust dough is good too and could be used in many applications but I prefer the dough base of the C.R. dough if I was going to make sweeter applications with it. Sort of like comparing dough bases of various chocolate chip cookies before adding the choc chips. You generally can’t go wrong with any; just some are a bit better than others for certain purposes.

Just out of curiosity – have you tried Pillsbury’s Recipe Creations Seamless Dough Sheets? It’s crescent roll dough, but in a flat sheet that you can unroll – which I love, because it saves me having to squish the seams together. I thought of that when I saw your recipe for Nutella Cinnamon Rolls last month, too. =)

I have a can of it in my fridge right now! I can’t always find it when I’m traveling and not in San Diego (i.e. the Nutella Rolls I made when I was traveling) but yes, love that stuff! Makes an easy project even easier & neater!

Ooo, I’d be all over the perimeter of your little football field, ha! I’ve become increasingly addicted to anything involving avocado. :) Perfect timing for this pizza/flatbread too, with college football games this week and the super bowl around the corner!

You are so creative, girl! I LOVE this idea and how cool that your Chicago native, deep dish loving hubby adored this creation on his behalf! I am SOOOOOO with you on going to a great mall where Anthro, etc. is over watching football! Wish I was there…we would have a BLAST! :-)

My mom and dad eat so much pizza that when I was at home over the holidays and was baking a spaghetti squash, my brother walked in and smiled and said, Smells like I’m just in time for pizza. Yes, they make it that often that the oven has a permanent pizza smell to it. Sad but true.

They would die for this! I can pretty much guarnatee that no one would touch the “green stuff” as Scott called it. They’d leave that for me, which I would gladly devour!

Chipootle, avocado, and cucumber!! Yes, please! I don’t know much about football (actually, I don’t know anything), but I’ve heard about the various line numbers. Great idea to make a field of pizza! It would make more sense to me in soccer terms. :D

wow are you the best wife or what! that snackadium is such a neat neat idea! wouldn’t guests be so impressed coming to a football party and seeing that…I would do the same as you…make it then head out shopping that is the way I prefer to enjoy a football game too…lol although I don’t mind having the UW Badger game on while I cook I like that background noise.

That pizza is so cute! I’m not a football fan, but with all of those delicious treats I could be converted! :) I’m on board with anything avocado, and those flatbreads look awesome. I bet the crunch from the cucumber tastes amazing!

I could just dive right into that pizza! Pepperoni pizza is something I haven’t made in a while. Last night I made chicken, bacon and sriracha ranch. Also, a breakfast pizza with fried eggs and pesto! I’m wishing I had done pepperoni now though :P